Rendezvous

Rather than try to wake Ralts up on the spot, and possibly get in trouble with Pandemonica, the group instead split into two teams. One team picked up Ralts and dragged him away, the other made sure that Pandemonica wouldn't be jostled around.

A few minutes later, with Ralts awake again, Null called a 'team meeting'.

"Ok everyone, we should all come clear about our abilities with each other if we're going to work together. We-" he motioned towards himself, Salante, Augentism, Draedon and Quinn "-shared with each other before, so let's just get it out of the way."

After quickly explaining their powers, Null turned to Draven, Sloth, Cletus, Shand and Alien. "So, what about you guys?"

Draven shouted into the air, a few notes from "Rock 'n Roll" by Skrillex coming out instead of his voice. The sheer volume and the shockwave generated by it forced everyone to take a step back.

"...Right. Almost forgot," he conceded.

Shand stepped forth, giving an annoyed glance at Draven as he passed by him. Then he produced a revolver out of nowhere. "To keep it short: I can copy the moves of fictional cowboys… though considering where we are, they might not be that fictional anymore. Still, the more kills I score the stronger I get, and the more powerful are the people I can copy. For example…" he pointed at a white flower pot sitting on a windowsill, and then shot the completely other way.

"What was that even-" Null was interrupted by Shand holding up one finger.

A series of pings and bangs rang out from all over, and then a crash as the bullet hit the pot straight in the center.

"Trickshot," Shand finished with a smug grin.

Everyone gave a small round of applause.

"Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week." Shand bowed.

Alien came stumbling forth. "Ass," he muttered, though it was drowned out by Draven's cackle.

"Come on Alien, I'm curious. What's the 'strategy man' got?" He asked.

Alien rolled his eyes, and picked up a rock. "Sure, get a good look." He threw the rock up, and as it came down he slammed his fists into it. A bang rang out as the rock crumbled to gravel.

"It's not quite super strength, though," he explained. "I can increase the power of any impact I create, so you can think of me as a weaker All Might without the time limit."

"Huh… is that limited to your hands?" Null asked, curious about such a broad power's applications.

"Not really, no. I might be able to even walk on air when strong enough… though that's theoretical." Alien shrugged. "It's a good power. Generic, but with some good potential."

Just as Cletus was going to follow up, someone screamed. Someone who sounded familiar to a certain member of their group. "Who is making all this racket?"

Everyone retreated in an alley, just in time to avoid the gaze of a spider-demon peering from her window. After a few moments, she moved away.

The group gave a collective sigh of relief.

"Hey," began Alien. "Wasn't she like on the other side of town?"

Sloth nodded. "Yeah, she probably still is. She did mention a sister…" he shivered. "Among other things."

"Like what?" he pressed on, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't want to talk about it," Sloth answered, voice flat and devoid of any emotion.

~[0o0]~

Normally she didn't bother much with rumors… unless they could lead her to someone she could have some fun with. But this one promised to be interesting.

A group of souls, apparently managing to bypass the immigration check-in, and with a much higher capacity of Will than most souls. Sure, it wasn't unheard of, but it was at most one or two souls: not eleven.

So much Will meant multiple things: from a desire to leave Hell - which would be almost impossible, as they needed Lucifer's permission - or any other drive to do anything… it could be even lust. And if it was… She'd get that twelvesome, or her name wasn't Modeus.

~[0o0]~

Limbo was a rather nice place, for being in Hell. There was even a park. Well-kept, green grass, trees, the whole shebang. The group could see other souls and demons, in small groups or alone, going around enjoying the greenery. Although…

"...why is there a playground here?" Aug asked, voice tense.

"Demon kids, maybe?" Suggested Null.

"...yeah. Sure. That's gotta be it," he conceded. To not think about it, he changed the discussion. "So, what is the plan now? I mean, 'get waifus' and all that, but… how do we go about doing that?"

Everyone turned towards Draedon and Alien. The latter recoiled back.

"Hey, what are you looking at us for?" He asked.

"Well," Sloth began "you two have been taking the lead until now, and it's been going somewhat decently. So really, why not?"

The duo exchanged a glance, and with a suffering sigh they stepped back to discuss things together. In the meantime, everyone tried to listen in.

"...circles… layout… don't know…"

"...unpredictable… need…"

"...the others… ready?"

After that, their whispering became too hushed and frantic to make any sense. So, most of the group relented and just waited patiently. Some sat on the ground, others found a nearby bench, and others were content standing.

As they waited, they didn't take notice of two other souls coming nearby.

Null was calmly resting against a tree, when he heard someone clearing their voice next to him. He looked up, and saw a young man followed closely by a much older woman… maybe his grandmother? They were dressed in an old-fashioned way, with clothes that would have seen more use in the late nineteenth century. It was the man who spoke first, tipping his top hat at Null and revealing dark blue hair?

"Pardon my rudeness, sir, but would I be under the correct assumption that you and your companions are new to this layer of Hell?" He asked, his voice even and restrained.

He nodded, unsure of where this was going. He was also a tad intimidated by the man's size, standing well over a head taller than him and over twice his width in muscle.

"Oh, I see. Well, firstly allow us to give you our welcome. I assure you that it's not such a bad place as is expected - you can clearly see it all around us." The soul continued, his tone warmer. "Also, I must warn you: there have been voices of a band of rascals running around causing disturbances left and right. There have been no real descriptions of them, so I would advise utmost caution. Also, do try to be on your best behavior: the High Prosecutor has been quite on edge as of late, and won't take to troublemakers lightly."

"That's very helpful sir, thanks a lot. I'll be sure to share with my friends." They shook hands, and the duo left. He could still hear them jovially bickering.

"Oh, you and your 'duty'. I'm sure that they can take care of themselves, Jonathan."

"Nonsense! You know how Miss Judgement gets. I wouldn't be worth calling a gentleman if I were to abandon anyone without a warning!"

~[0o0]~

"Ok guys!" Announced Draedon. "We have a plan!"

Null quickly ran up and interrupted him. "Yeah, uh, that's great and all but mind if I say something real quick?"

Although he was a tad miffed, Draedon still let him continue.

"Ok, so. I've been told that there's already talk of us around Limbo, and apparently us causing trouble is pissing off Judgement. I'd suggest laying low for a while, or getting out of dodge." He then nodded to Draedon. "That's all, go on."

Draedon frowned. "Well, that will be a pain to deal with. But with some care, our plan should still work out. Here's the idea: anyone with coding knowledge will help out Cletus make some spells to prepare for the trip, the rest of us will be gathering intel to find the next circle." He gave a pointed look at Draven as he continued. "Since we don't have any demons on our side yet, we won't have anyone to guide us, therefore we must be extremely careful. So no running off." He stopped for a moment.

"We can't afford to attract anymore attention to ourselves, so as Null said we need to lay low until we're ready to defend ourselves properly," continued Alien.

To say that the others weren't very impressed would be an understatement.

"Really? That's what you got after planning so much?" Draven was the first to voice his opinion. "Could've come up with that shit in my sleep, for fuck's sake." He went to take a step forward, but a hand planted itself on his shoulder.

"What I believe Draven wanted to say," started Sloth, "is that this plan seems to be rather lacking in actual substance. Shouldn't we try to come up with something more concrete?"

Murmurs of agreement came from all around.

~[0o0]~

"Hey Null," began Alien while the others were still discussing.

"Huh, what is it?"

"Where did you hear that stuff about Judgement and whatnot, anyways?" He asked.

"Well, there was this one really tall guy. He had blue hair, built like a brickhouse, I think his name was Jonathan?"

Alien blinked. And then he did so again, for good measure. "Are- are you saying that you spoke to Jonathan Joestar? The chaddest of chads? That Jonathan?"

Null wordlessly shrugged.

"Oh, well." Alien sighed. "I'm not sure how much Hamon could help out against demons… hold up. Quinn can literally slice through them like butter."

The two's eyes bugged out at the thought.

"GUYS WE HAVE NEWS!"

~[0o0]~

"I don't understand any of this."

"Come on, Alien, it's not that complex," Aug tried to explain. "The Sowilo rune initializes the main cycle, then the Kaunaz function heats up the target, followed by Dagaz - both normal and reverse - to represent a short wait, and finally Isa cools down the target!"

Alien's answer was paired with a dry look. "There's a reason why I dropped out of Computer Science, Aug."

While Aug, Quinn and Null were all helping Cletus come up with spells, Alien was left without much to contribute to due to his inability to comprehend anything beyond the bare basics of what was being talked about. Therefore, he went on to explore the rest of the library they'd stumbled upon earlier.

He lazily eyed the shelves, not really expecting anything to catch his interest. And yet…

"What's this?" he whispered to himself. "Beginner's guide to spellcraft by Merlin… well, if it's not a dud then might as well take it."

Turning around, he was about to return to the others, though his eyes happened to notice something poking out from underneath one of the bookshelves. He crouched down, and picked up the book. An amused grin appeared on his face as he read the title.

"How to draw hentai, featuring Saber. I didn't actually think this book existed." He shrugged, and held onto it as he returned to the others. Although…

"Why is it so rigid? It's not a hardback copy."

He attempted to bend the book, and by all rights he should've been able to, but he still found that it posed some resistance. Once he opened the book, though, he found the answer. The book had been hollowed out, and inside the cavity where once were the pages, sat another book.

Alien had to do a double-take.

"Why? Why would you do such a thing?" He asked himself. "Why would anyone destroy such a magnificent piece of culture?"

The hidden book, about as big as his hand, was bound in black leather with white and yellow accents, no title on its cover. With a sigh he opened it. Every page he flipped to was empty, except the first one. On it, was an index.

Akashic Tome

1 - A soul's guide to Hell

2 - How to draw hentai featuring Saber

3 - ...…..

4 - ...…..

As he kept looking down, the numbers seemed infinite, yet all of them were blank except for the first two. Just as Alien's eyes locked onto the first entry, the pages flipped by themselves.

A soul's guide to Hell

S. Eis

Circle 1: Limbo

So, you just died and have made your way through the highway to Hell. Sucks to be you, I guess. But now you don't know what to do, do you? Alright, buckle up kid.

The first circle is Limbo, pretty easy. If you did only minor sins you're staying here, and should consider yourself lucky: it gets worse very quickly. Now, if you went through the immigration check-in you should have your documents and have been assigned a home. From there it's like on Earth: get a job and live your life… or un-life, I suppose.

Though I suppose I should talk also about being a soul.

As he kept reading, Alien learned about Hell's first circle and on what being a soul entailed. Apparently gaining abilities was normal for souls that had no special trait in life, and the intensity of a power was dependent on one's willpower… whatever that meant.

Still, even though the average demon in Limbo could rip apart humans with ease, it seemed that their abilities gave the group the edge needed to go toe-to-toe with them. Though according to the book's descriptions, they really needed to get stronger before attempting to go lower.

And yeah, the book detailed even where to find the entrances to the lower levels. Not that he'd tell anyone else just yet. They were sooo not ready, it wasn't even funny.

Not seeing anyone else around, Alien hid the small book under his hoodie and brought the other one to the 'spellcrafting club'.

~[0o0]~

Shand's gun flashed twice as another demon dropped to the ground, its head nothing more than a mangled mess. He grimaced at the smell of blood and sulfur permeating the air.

They'd had the great idea to explore outside of Limbo, into the first circle proper… and promptly got attacked by a bunch of feral demons, though thankfully they weren't particularly strong.

"We've got fliers incoming!" Yelled Draedon, as he axe-kicked a demon's neck. The eyeless beast fell to the ground,

"I think we can-!" Sloth reply was drowned out by the flying demons' screeches and the beat drop of 'Cerberus' as a shockwave tore through their ranks like a hot knife through butter.

Salante didn't respond; he instead opted to simply swipe and bite at anything that came close to his massive panda form.

With the flying foes being handled by Draven, Shand and Sloth reconvened for a moment. The barrel of Shand's gun was smoking, and the cylinder glowed with a pale azure light. Behind him, Sloth's clothes were torn in a few spots and unholy blood covered him, but the wide grin on his face belied the unusual pleasure he felt at mowing down those abominations.

Neither exchanged a word, both men jumping back into the fray after sharing a look.

As he sprinted to and fro, doing his best to not stick to one spot for too long, Shand found his body growing heavier. The unspoken question was answered as the massive panda that was Salante barreled past him, with a small demon clinging to his back.

A small demon that let go immediately after getting shot in the face.

The hordes were thinning out at that point, a thing that Shand made clear to the others. "Almost done! Keep it up!" He pushed his allies forward. He settled himself on an outcrop of stone to provide covering fire for everyone else.

"It's high noon bitches!"

~[0o0]~

"Oh, so that's how it works." Cletus says after almost having impaled Quinn with an ice lance.

"Fucking hell mate, watch where you're throwing your damn spells, could 'ave left a big fucking hole in my chest with that." The englishman throws back a half-hearted complaint as he gets off the floor and dusts himself off.

"Uhh, guys?" Came Null's voice.

"What?"

"The librarian seems mighty pissed at our shenanigans and is coming this way."

The pair turned around, meeting the gaze of a wizened old demon. His eyes were hidden behind thick lenses, but just the sheer oppressive presence coming from him was enough to make everyone tense up.

The old man didn't actually say anything; instead he simply tapped a sign that said "No magic" before pointing angrily towards the exit with a swift motion of his cane.

Unwilling to anger someone capable of freezing someone with just a look, everyone gathered their things - and Ralts - and vacated the premises.

"Well that was an embarrassing way to get kicked out." Cletus said while kicking the ground.

"Ah, who cares about that?" Rebuffed Quinn. "The bad part is that we weren't done with that book."

"True enough, and now we have to find another place to continue our search."

A sigh came from their left. The two turned around to see Alien pull out a book from under his hoodie. "Not necessarily. I found this-" he wiggled the book around a moment "-in the library. It apparently can copy whatever book it touches. Took the chance to copy whatever I could get my hands on."

"How awfully convenient," mused Null, peering down at the small book.

"I know, right? And it was hidden inside another book… a hentai book. Almost like someone wanted us to find it." Alien shrugged. "It might be way too convenient, but I'm not going to toss away a freebie like this."

"Hmm, I think I have a few suspects for the culprit." Quinn said as his eyes narrowed at one of the titles.

"S. Eis?" Cletus said out loud as his mind took a moment to connect the dots, after which his eyebrows shot towards the sky. "Wait a minute... HOLD THE FUCK UP…!"

"Are you telling me that Shiro motherfucking Eis has a hand in this?!" Alien screeched, his mind going a mile a minute.

"Apparently, yes."

"Ugh…" a groan came from a bench near them, where Ralts was waking up. "What's with this racket?"

"Shiro Eis, multiverse's greatest overpowered asshole is apparently real, no biggie."

"Oh." He then laid back down.

"Wow, he's taking this really well."

"Unlike you people, I do my screaming internally."

The remaining four exchanged a look.

"And yet we don't have a Gamer power. Thanks, Shiro."

~[0o0]~

If there was one thing Judgement hated about being the High Prosecutor - after having to hurt so many souls, even though for a good reason - was the mountains of paperwork. She was sure that Justice had never had to deal with any of that! She'd never even seen Justice do paperwork!

But unfortunately, there wasn't much she could do about it other than soldier on.

As she went to pick up the last document of the pile - finally - one of her assistants peeked into her office.

"Er, ma'am? I'm sorry to disturb you-"

"OUT WITH IT!" She yelled. Sure, she might feel bad about scaring her like that, but she really didn't want to waste any more time than she had to before going home.

"Y-yes! We have a new batch of complaints, ma'am!"

Her eyelid wasn't twitching. She was calm. She was perfectly calm. Her pen didn't break just now.

"...please tell me it isn't Limbo again."

A meek nod from the assistant was all the answer she needed.

"LUCIFER DAMNIT!"

~[0o0]~

"Father damn it," she groused. Not like her 'beloved father' would be able to help even if he wanted to. Whoever this… she didn't even feel comfortable calling him a god, he was something above that. This entity was far stronger than her, and certainly far stronger than 'big G'.

At the very least he hadn't come to fight her, or take her place, or… anything, really. She couldn't have stopped him anyways. All he'd asked for was a deal.

A deal. With her. Lucifer, the CEO of Hell. The Devil.

And even though the mortals had long since made that saying of 'don't make deals with the devil', it still felt like she'd been the one on the losing end.

All she could do now was hope that he would keep to his word…

Not only there was that matter weighing on her, but there were also all the rumors coming from Limbo already.

"Eleven souls, all given the potential to exceed gods… and for what purpose? One entity's amusement. I'd pity them, if they weren't so keen on causing trouble. And they're not even legally prosecutable, since they legally don't exist!"

She settled back into her throne with a huff and took another sip of wine to calm herself. "I can't end them, but I can still have them processed and shipped off to their respective circles. It's fine, Lucifer. You have this under control."

A cruel smirk grew on her face.

"They'll get what's coming for them."